“Why would you make me hurt you?”
I try not to cry, but the pain is bad. Almost as bad as the burning he put me through, but I can breathe, so I don’t think he did any major damage. It just fucking hurts. “Panda, I need—”
My words aren’t even fully formed when a loud bang sounds upstairs moments before footsteps clamber down the stairs behind me. I risk a glance at whoever is there and almost cry when I see Lincoln’s very pissed off face, with Maverick and Finley right behind him.
Despite them being here, I keep my eyes on a now very angry Evan.
I’m just glad he didn’t have time to pick up the gun I dropped, and I use this moment to scurry over and retrieve it.
“You three ruin fucking everything!” he shouts, pulling at his hair. He raises the knife, brandishing it in front of him.
Maverick saunters forward, putting himself between Evan and I, smiling that crazy smirk of his, pulling a blade of his own. “Now you’re talking my language,” he says, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Lincoln moves toward me, putting his hand over mine on the gun, taking it from me and passing it to Finn who keeps his own gun trained on Panda. “I got you,” he murmurs as he pulls me into his arms. I hiss as I sag against him.
“You’re bleeding.” His gaze rushes over me, taking in all of the injuries and the bandages before he applies pressure to my ribs. “I got you. You’re going to be okay.”
“She is supposed to be mine! You don’t deserve her!” Evan shouts. “Especially you, after your father killed hers. You’re monsters! All of you!”
Lincoln stiffens beneath me at his words as I hold my hand against the wound in my side, but Maverick doesn’t respond. Whether he knew, or whether he believes it, I can’t tell, he just remains poised to attack should Evan make the wrong move. True or not, I wouldn’t hold Maverick responsible for his father's actions. Holding someone accountable for the actions of others is just abhorrent.
“Evan, please.” I sigh, pulling back from Lincoln. “I don’t know how you saw this ending, but it was never going to end the way you wanted it to.”
He looks over at me, almost deflated at my words. “I just wanted to rescue you. That's all I was ever good at.” He raises his blade to his throat and my heart stops. “I failed at even that. I’m sorry. I won’t let them take me too.”
He drags the blade across his throat as a scream tears from me. Lincoln’s arms wrap around me as I dive forward. Maverick and Finn rush to him. Maverick, covered in the spray of blood, presses his hands over the insanely deep wound, blood rushing between his fingers as the artery spurts blood. Evan’s gasping breaths in these moments will haunt me forever. The seconds tick by, lasting eons as Lincoln holds me against him. Evan’s grip of the knife loosens and he stills. Finn shakes his head before looking back at us.
“He’s gone.”